High-Wattage Discussion

I had the unusual experience on Friday, Feb. 22, of being a guest on former Gov. John Rowland’s afternoon drive-time radio show on WTIC Newstalk 1080.

I’ve done a fair amount of radio over the years, but this is the first time I’ve ever been in the studios of a large-audience 50,000-watt network-affiliated operation. I’ve been a regular at very small shops here in the Northwest Corner that often have one or two people running the station.

At WTIC’s studios nestled in a vast office park in Farmington, there were two producers on the other side of the glass, a news and sports anchor in other parts of the building, reporters out in the field, traffic guys up in their choppers and receptionists to greet visitors. In other words, a far cry from Robinhood Radio, WAPJ and the old Q-103. But true to my roots, I got in a brief backhanded plug for Robinhood Radio’s emperor when Rowland asked if anyone ever made fun of my name.

First of all, I give Rowland a lot of credit for having me on for two hours. I’ve written some not-so-kind things about him and his past ethical problems. Yet we do have a lot in common. No, I’ve never done time. But we did find ourselves in agreement on a host of issues, ranging from the current budget machinations at the Capitol to gun control to Gov. Malloy’s governing style.

Indeed, we agreed so often that I wondered if we were boring our audience. After all, one of the basic tenets of talk radio and cable news is that you should keep agreement to a minimum. However, we both had fun and, as Rowland assured me off the air, sparks certainly flew when we started talking about gun control.

I think it was Second-Amendment absolutist Ralph from Windsor who took me to task for my position on the banning of assault weapons. So I peppered him with questions: What about machine guns? How about tanks and nuclear weapons? He then accused me of throwing up “straw-man” arguments, when in reality I was just looking for clarity.

At any rate, Rowland is a charming and persistent guy. You have to be to rise to the upper reaches of the political hierarchy, then sink to the depths of serving a year in a federal prison. And then get up and dust yourself off to make a comeback.

Rowland also had many kind things to say about CT News Junkie, where I ply my trade as a weekly columnist. Of course, there we are also in agreement.

P.S. So far, it does not look like WTIC has posted a podcast or any highlights from my appearance. If and when they do, I will update this post with a link.

With that kind of twisting of the language, you should consider a career as a … lobbyist.

ctdevilsadvocate

Dave, I don’t expect you to believe that I was looking for clarity (you seem determined to believe otherwise). But when I asked Ralph whether he should be permitted to own nukes, he would not answer. He simply attacked the question, which was really a very simple one. Can you answer it?